The Diary of Melanie Martin

Book excerpt: Dear Diary, You will never in a million years guess where we're going. Nope. Guess again. Never mind. I'll tell you. Italy! We're going to ITALY! In Europe!! Across the ocean!!! I even have a passport. It's really cool, except I'm squinting my eyes in the photo so I look like a dork. At least that's what my brother said. I call him Matt the brat. You would too. Trust me. . . . Go ahead. It's not snooping, because you're invited to dig right into the private diary of Melanie Martin, age 10. Melanie is off to Italy on a family vacation with her art-obsessed mom, her grumpy dad, and her annoyingly cute 6-year-old brother. But Italy isn't exactly everything Melanie expects it to be. As she discovers Michelangelo, gelato, and the joy of penning poetry, she also discovers how much her crazy family really means to her. Maybe she won't trade them in after all.